Realistic Period of Art
Realism was an art movement that emerged along with the 1848 French revolution also known as February revolution in Paris. This period of art formed as a rejection of the conventional approach in painting and opposition to the ideologies of Romanticism which began to be considered as artificial and drifted away from normal life and people. The term realism was coined by the French novelist Champfleury in the 1840s. In practice realist subject matter meant scenes of peasants and workers, the ordinary life of man and not the ideal representations of the world.
Artists were indulging into socio economic problems and Realism began to criticize the upper class, examining values that were evoked with the advent of industrial revolution. They were using dark earthy palettes to portray unpleasant scenes from daily life in their works that did not have any objective to get showcase in exhibitions for mere display of beauty. Gustave Courbet the French Painter is considered as the torch bearer of the movement. He was the first artist to address a mundane scene of the working class. His painting raised huge controversy and was not considered to be “high art”. When critics asked Courbet about his choice of subjects he explained that since he had not seen an angel, he couldn't draw one and it was just his way of seeing. “Realist means a sincere lover of the honest truth”- says Courbet. That is why the term Realism is not just for the realistic or photographic depiction of subject matter but it also defines the choice of subjects that the artists opted for, and that is the real world.
One of the pioneers of realistic subjects was Honore Daumier the sculptor, painter and printmaker. He is remembered till date for his uncompromising caricature drawings and lithographic works that depict critical class distinctions. They were radical, sarcastic and full of allegorical connotations. Landscapes were his domain and he did not identify himself as a Realist painter even though he worked during this time period. His ideologies were different from the other painters and he is called as “one great Romantic artist who did not shrink from reality”- by the great art historian H.W.Janson.
Other great artists who were notable for their works during the Realistic era are Jean Farancois Millet, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, Edouard Manet. Apart from the depictions of the socio political scenario, Realist paintings are also known for the remarkable figurative representations, study of light, contrast, transitional illusions and bold edges.
